History Today : Check out the historical event from US to Iraq to Cyrus and more

• 1294 Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
• 1545 Council of Trent (19th ecumenical council) opened by Pope Paul III
• 1570 Sweden and Denmark signs Peace of Stettin
• 1572 Spanish army beats Geuzen fleet (confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles) under admiral Lumey
• 1621 Emperor Ferdinand II delegates 1st anti-Reformation decree
• 1636 The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.
• 1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sights the South Island of present day New Zealand; initially he calls it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland
• 1643 English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
• 1668 Jean Racine's "Britannicus" premieres in Paris
• 1734 Britain & Russia sign trade agreement
• 1742 Willem KH Friso tests his mothers potatoes
• 1759 First music store in America opens (Philadelphia)
• 1769 Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter
• 1774 First incident of American Revolution - 400 attack Ft William and Mary, New Hampshire
• 1816 Patent for a dry dock issued to John Adamson, Boston
• 1823 Gioacchino Rossini arrives in London
• 1861 Battle of Alleghany Summit, WV
• 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, VA (Marye's Heights)
• 1864 Battle of Ft McAllister, GA
• 1879 First federal fish hatching steamer launched (Wilmington, Delaware)
• 1889 Belgium rules on women/child labor law
• 1895 First complete execution of Gustav Mahler's 2nd Symphony
• 1900 Battle of Nooitgedacht: Boer generals De La Reyand Smuts defeat a British brigade under the command of Major General R. Clements
• 1901 Test debut of S F Barnes v Aust SCG, took 5-65 in 1st innings
• 1903 Italo Marcioni patents ice cream cone mound (NJ)
• 1906 German chancellor Bernhard von Bulow disbands the Parliament
• 1907 George Gunn scores 119 on Test debut v Australia SCG
• 1913 British foreign minister Sir Edward Grey proposes that southern Albania be divided between Greece and Albania with compensation to Greece in the Aegean islands
• 1916 Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian & Italian troops in 24 hrs in Tyrol
• 1916 Esme Stuart Lennox Robinsons premieres in Dublin
• 1916 French chief of staff Joffre replaced by Nivelle
• 1918 US army of occupation crosses Rhine, enters Germany
• 1919 Ross & Smith land in Australia from a flight from London
• 1920 Francis G. Pease's interferometer at Mount Wilson Observatory is the first to measure the diameter of a star - the Betelgeuse
• 1920 League of nations establishes International Court of Justice in The Hague
• 1920 Netherland breaks contact with Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia & Slavia
• 1922 Charles Ebbets proposes putting numbers on players' sleeves or caps
• 1924 KOA-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
• 1928 Clip-on tie designed
• 1928 George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres (NYC)
• 1930 French government of André Tardieu falls for the second time
• 1930 George Sisler's career ends when Boston Braves release him
• 1930 Theodore Steeg forms French government
• 1934 Mark Hellinger Theater (Warner Bros) opens at 237 W 51st St NYC
• 1936 Final Boston Redskin NFL game, lose to Packers 21-6, move to Washington, D.C.
• 1938 Los Angeles freezes at 28°F
• 1939 Battle of the River Plate - 3 British cruisers vs German pocket battleship Graf Spee
• 1941 German occupiers forbid National Front & Netherland Union
• 1941 Lawine battlers destroy Haaraz, Peru; about 3,000 die
• 1941 U-81 torpedoes British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal
• 1942 Seyss-Inquart allows Dutch Nazi Anton Mussert to call himself Leader
• 1942 Washington Redskins defeat Chicago Bears 14-6, to win NFL title
• 1943 150 US Marauders bomb Schiphol
• 1944 Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser Nashville, kills 138
• 1944 Norman Krasna's "Dear Ruth" premieres in NYC
• 1946 Leon Blum elected French premier
• 1947 "Caribbean Carnival" closes at International NYC after 11 performances
• 1947 Maine Turnpike opens to traffic
• 1949 AL votes down proposal to revive spitball
• 1949 Knesset votes to transfer Israel's capital to Jerusalem
• 1950 "Let's Make an Opera" opens at John Golden Theater NYC for 5 performances
• 1959 Archbishop Makarios elected 1st president of Cyprus
• 1960 Italy beats US in Davis cup (1st time in 24 years US not in finals)
• 1960 Laos General Fumi Nosavang occupies Vientiane
• 1961 Beatles sign a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein
• 1961 Gideon Hausner in Jerusalem demands death penalty for Adolf Eichmann
• 1961 Jimmy Dean's Big Bad John album is country music 1st million $ seller
• 1962 Relay 1 communication satellite launched
• 1963 Capital records signs right of first refusal agreement with The Beatles
• 1965 Algerian president Boumedienne visits Moscow
• 1966 1st US bombing of Hanoi part of Operation Rolling Thunder during the Vietnam War
• 1966 1st battle for Bijlmer flats Amsterdam
• 1966 Test debut of Clive Lloyd, v India Bombay, 82 & 78
• 1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1967 United Soccer Association & National Pro Soccer League merge into NASL
• 1967 Unsuccessful coup against Greek King Constantine II
• 1967 San Diego, CA records snow at a zero elevation after temperatures plunge 19 degrees (F) in eight hours.
• 1968 Brazilian President Da Costa e Silva issues Ato Institucional Número Cinco degree
• 1969 Arlo Guthrie releases "Alice's Restaurant"
• 1969 Billy Martin fired as Twins' manager
• 1970 Greg Chappell scores 108 on Test debut v England at the WACA
• 1971 John Sinclair (sentence: 10 yrs, sold 2 marijuana joints) is freed
• 1973 MPLA/FNLA accord about combat against Portuguese Libya
• 1973 World Football League grants 1st franchise (Detroit)
• 1974 Jim "Catfish" Hunter wins free agent claim against A's owner Finley
• 1974 Malta becomes a republic
• 1975 Jane Blalock wins LPGA 14 Colgate Triple Crown Golf Tournament
• 1975 Roy Fredericks hits 169 v Aust at WACA, hundred in 71 balls
• 1975 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1976 Golden Gate Bridge District starts ferry service to Larkspur
• 1976 Longest non-stop passenger airflight (Sydney to SF 13h14m)
• 1977 14 University of Evansville basketball players die in plane crash
• 1978 CBS' premiere of "Lovey: A Circle of Children Part II", sequel to "A Circle of Children", which is also based on Mary Mac Cracken
• 1979 "Oklahoma!" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 301 performances
• 1979 Strikes against price increases in Gdansk Poland
• 1979 Saudi Arabia raises marker crude price to $24 per barrel
• 1980 "Perfectly Frank" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 16 performances
• 1981 70th Davis Cup: USA beats Argentina in Cincinnati (3-1)
• 1981 Polish government declares martial law, arrests Solidarity activists
• 1982 Earthquake hits Northern Yemen; 2,000 die
• 1982 71st Men's Australian Open: Johan Kriek beats Steve Denton (6-3, 6-3, 6-2)
• 1983 9,655 see highest-scoring NBA game: Detroit 186, Denver 184 (3 OT)
• 1983 Islander's Butch Goring scorings 4 goals against Oilers
• 1983 KYA-AM in San Francisco CA changes call letters to KOIT
• 1983 Martha Layne Collins inaugurated as Kentucky's 1st female governor
• 1984 Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suffers 1st stroke
• 1985 David Boon's 1st Test century, 123 v India at Adelaide
• 1985 Test debut of Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh & Bruce Reid (v India)
• 1987 Belgium Christian Democrats (CVP) loses parliamentary election
• 1987 Browns set club record for most points scored in a quarter, 28
• 1987 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1988 3 men end 29-hr all-466-station subway ride in NYC
• 1988 Arafat addresses UN in Geneva
• 1989 Walter Davis (Denver) ends NBA free throw streak of 53 games
• 1989 The last issue of Gnistan (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden.
• 1990 US Secretary of State Baker questions Iraq's seriousness about Middle East peace
• 1991 Both Koreas sign an accord calling for reconcilliation
• 1991 NY assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
• 1991 Ricky Pierce (Seattle) ends NBA free throw streak of 75 games
• 1992 "Show Off" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 45 performances
• 1992 Dawn Coe-Jone wins Pizza-La LPGA Match Play Golf Championship
• 1992 FCC fines Infinity Broadcasting $600,000
• 1993 Deadline for Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, they don't
• 1993 Dow Jones hits record 3764.43
• 1993 Fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, 60 killed
• 1993 Space shuttle STS-61 (Endeavour 5), lands
• 1994 American Eagle commuter plane crashes in NC, killing 15
• 1995 Christopher Reeves released from physical rehab center
• 1995 US Federal Court votes that Cable companies must carry local stations
• 1996 Kofi Annan is elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
• 1997 63rd Heisman Trophy Award: Charles Woodson, Michigan (CB)
• 1999 65th Heisman Trophy Award: Ron Dayne, Wisconsin (RB)
• 2000 The "Texas 7" escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas later going on a crime spree and killing police officer Aubrey Hawkins
• 2003 69th Heisman Trophy Award: Jason White, Oklahoma (QB)
• 2004 Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.
• 2006 The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, announced as extinct.
• 2007 The Mitchell Report is publicly released listing the names of 89 Major League Baseball players that have presumably used anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. Notable players to be named include Roger Clemens and Miguel Tejada.
• 2010 76th Heisman Trophy Award: Cam Newton, Auburn (QB)
• 2012 A car bombing in Qatana, outside Damascus, kills 16 people and injures 12
• 2012 Japan scrambles fighter jets in response to a Chinese plane in the Senkaku Islands dispute
• 2014 Divisions emerge between rich and poor nations at the UN climate change talks in Peru
• 2014 A civil rights protest march in Washington, D.C. takes place, against the police killing of unarmed black men
• 2014 The British Government announces it will send hundreds of troops to Iraq, to train Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the conflict with Islamic State
• 2014 Two US soldiers killed in a Taliban bombing of a NATO convoy in Kabul
• 2014 Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, criticizes UN Security Council for its lack of action over war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan
• 2014 80th Heisman Trophy Award: Marcus Mariota, Oregon (QB)
• 2015 COP21 climate change summit in Paris reaches a deal between nearly 200 countries to attempt to tackle rising global tempertures
• 2015 Irishman Conor McGregor knocks out Brazilian Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win his 1st featherweight title in Las Vegas
• 2015 81st Heisman Trophy Award: Derrick Henry, Alabama (RB)